Once, in 2019, I came to Ukraine and talked about “Artemis” and the return to the moon. “We’re going back to the moon to fly more”

And it will eventually.

Why are you flying to the moon? – We were there more than fifty years ago, what’s the point of repeating what happened? But why…

Despite bold plans for the colonization of Mars and numerous experiments, we still do not know whether a person can survive even a week on the surface of another celestial body. The new Artemis lunar program is designed to solve this problem by sending astronauts to the moon for a “survival course.”

However, now the Orion spacecraft has to go through a “survival course.”

Purely visually, the orbit of the Orion spacecraft resembles the orbit of Apollo-11, which ultimately flew along the “Kondratyuk path”. Such an orbit is called a “free spin orbit” – if you look at the picture, it really looks like a figure eight. But this time it will be a little different. First of all, “Artemis-1” will not land on the surface, it will be a test flight around the Moon and the return of the capsule. The fact is that the Orion spacecraft is fundamentally different from the Apollos, so before embarking on manned missions, the developers need this test flight to understand how the ship behaves.

A separate team will monitor the new spacesuit.

In general, there are even two types of them: the Reconnaissance Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) (designed for landing on the surface of the Moon) and the Orion Crew Survival System suit (in which the crew will be inside the Orion capsule during takeoff and landing), and this time the commander They will fly a mannequin named Munikin Campos, who has been appointed as (By the way, that was the name of the electrical engineer who, along with our friend Dr. Roethke, better known as Dr. Flush, played a key role in the rescue of the Apollo 13 mission in 1970.)

A pair of other dummies named Helga and Zoar will be without space suits, but with an array of sensors to measure the effects of radiation on women’s bodies. Moreover, Zoar will have a protective vest, but Helga will not.

The fourth member of the crew is the lamb Shaun. It is the representative of the European Space Agency (ESA).

Regarding the Orion Crew Survival System suit, it’s worth noting that an astronaut can stay in it for up to six days, ( ̶з̶аа̶ ̶п̶а̶п̶е̶р̶е̶д year year… Also, the spacesuit is completed in open platform type. This means using the basic configuration, mounting various devices on it, making it means that it is possible to develop and adapt it to various space programs.

You can talk about the second spacesuit xEMU.

This spacesuit is fundamentally different from those currently used on the ISS (ISS) and even those created for the Crew Dragon (SpaceX) and Starliner (Boeing) crews. Their tasks are different, and, accordingly, the design is significantly different.

For example, a bunch of life support cables and communications are lost – all communications are sewn into different layers of the spacesuit and do not interfere with movement or the process of putting on the spacesuit. There are also no fasteners, but there is something like a flap on the back, meaning the astronaut just gets in the spacesuit, closes the flap and attaches a life support system at the top, which hangs a bit on the back. backpack. However, this backpack stands quite high. This is how it’s possible to achieve an ideal balance, explained Amy Ross (Amy Ross), an engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center who created this spacesuit.

In general, the lunar suit turned out to be very comfortable. Kristine Davis, who is also a JSC engineer and exhibiting the suit during the presentation, noted its excellent thermal insulation and warmth (“I Didn’t Even Sweat”) and its ability to move calmly even in Earth’s gravitational conditions. For example, Christine can calmly pick up a large pebble from the surface. In the previous Moon costume (where the Apollo astronauts flew), it would have been very difficult to do this so easily.

The suit has handy fasteners with straps on the back, waist, legs, and shoulders—you actually wear it like a heavy backpack. According to Christine, it feels like a backpack. Now weighing 200 pounds (91 kilograms), Christine was actually carrying a healthy man on her shoulders during the tests (a familiar situation to many women). But still not full weight. With life support systems, the spacesuit will be much heavier. The only consolation is that it will feel six times lighter on the surface of the moon.

The spacesuit itself is under pressure and resembles arms, legs, and a basketball with an astronaut inside. The pressure will range from 0.2 ATM to 0.5 ATM – this will also help support its weight and move freely inside.

Voice communication was a special convenience. So, if Christine, in her spacesuit on the moon’s surface, said “link me to Giorgio”, personal moon Tracy would seamlessly bring her to our channel. It is also possible to display information with a projector on the inner surface of the porthole of the helmet and for the astronaut to use the glass as a monitor.

Interestingly, the spacesuit can now be adjusted to all heights and sizes, making it the first universal spacesuit.

In total, the Artemis 1 mission will take 42 days, 3 hours and 20 minutes and will end with the capsule’s landing in the Pacific Ocean on October 10, 2022. During this time, Orion will travel 1.3 million kilometers with a black plasticine sheep.

We’re going back to the moon. We’re going back to fly more.

What dangers await our astronauts and why should we not be afraid of them? Why do we still have to learn? And most importantly, why do we need it?

This program should answer all these questions.

Meanwhile, in November 2020, Ukraine became the ninth country to participate in the NASA Artemis lunar program.

Along with the USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, Great Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

As little as two years ago, when we were part of MCC, we were part of the program. Now we are dealing with completely different tasks. And these missions are no less important than the flight to the moon. We help our Ukrainian partners in the Armed Forces to defend Ukraine. If the main goal of the Artemis astronauts is to return, ours is to protect the world from the Russian terrorist threat.

don’t miss it! The launch of the SLS superheavy launch vehicle from Launch Pad 39B is scheduled for 08:33 EDT (16:33 in Kiev).

you can watch here

Dorje Batu

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* The author’s perspective may not coincide with the agency’s position.